The Real Deal New York

Alphabet City’s gentrification travels further east

July 12, 2012 04:30PM

A trend that might have seemed unimaginable just 20 years ago, when Alphabet City was known for drugs and violence, is now strengthening. The neighborhood is continuing to see new residential development and skyrocketing rents, the New York Post reported.

For example, a new 78-unit rental development is rising across from public housing projects on Avenue D called the Arabella 101. Its leasing office is slated to open next week and half of the units will go for market rate, with the remainder being reserved for affordable housing. The starting prices for the market-rate units are $2,500 for a studio and $2,900 for a one-bedroom. In addition, the Brody Amirian Group is building an eight-story 33-unit building at 316-318 East Third Street at Avenue D that will be ready in the fall of next year. Rents here will yield over $50 per square foot.

Following a past of homelessness, drug use and violence, this outcome wasn’t expected — especially so far east. But how did the neighborhood turn the corner? The Post attributed the change to the restaurants and hotels that have opened up in the area.

“Inventory is so limited and so many people want to be in this neighborhood,” Elizabeth Kee, a Core broker, told the Post. “Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine [prices would be this high], but it’s a simple supply and demand curve.”

Even older buildings are garnering sky-high prices. There’s a four-bedroom converted synagogue on East 8th Street between avenues B and C on the market with Town Residential for $25,000. There’s even a 6,000-square-foot townhouse on East Fourth Street between avenues A and B going for $8.5 million. [Post]